NEW YORK—The share of Americans who say they watch television via cable or satellite has plunged from 76 percent in 2015 to 56 percent this year, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults. Some 71 percent of those who do not use cable or satellite services say it’s because they can access the content they want online, while 69 percent say the cost of cable and satellite services is too high and 45 percent say they do not often watch TV.

The drop in cable and satellite subscribers highlights the changing landscape of connectivity and media in an era of “cord cutting,” particularly as Internet streaming services like Netflix and Hulu have grown in popularity, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Pew research, among those who do not currently subscribe to cable or satellite TV, 61 percent report that they had done so in the past, while 39 percent say they have never been subscribers. When applying these findings to the population as a whole, this means 27 percent of U.S. adults are “cord cutters” and 17 percent have never had a cable or satellite subscription, according to the survey, which was conducted Jan. 25-Feb. 8, 2021.

The decline in cable and satellite TV subscribers since 2015 shows up across the demographic spectrum. The trends among different age groups are particularly striking.

Only about a third (34 percent ) of Americans ages 18 to 29 now get TV through cable or satellite, down 31 percentage points from 2015. Fewer than half (46 percent ) of those ages 30 to 49 currently get TV that way, down 27 points.
Among those 50 and older, the decline has been less dramatic: Those ages 50 to 64 saw a 14-point drop since 2015. Those 65 and older saw a 5-point decline, which is not a statistically significant difference.

Not only do young adults stand out for not using cable or satellite TV, they are also much more likely than their elders to have never gotten TV at home via cable or satellite—and to say they don’t subscribe because they can find the content they want online.

Some 61 percent of those who are ages 18 to 29 and don’t currently receive TV by cable or satellite say they did not do so in the past, compared with around 3 in 10 in older age groups. And 91 percent of nonsubscribers in this age group say a reason they do not subscribe is that they can access the content they want online—again a considerably larger share than among older nonsubscribers.